Five ways to reclaim your power back and take charge of your mental health in lockdown.

Contribution by Keeley Stephenson.

Due to the pandemic and the current state of the world means that many of us feel as though we are no longer in control anymore. Now, for some, this has really taken a toll on our mental health and has impacted our abilities to see the positives. However, just because we are presently locked down within our homes.  It doesn’t mean that we have to be locked down in our minds. In this blog piece, I will be giving you some personal tips on how to reclaim your power back in order to feel more in control mentally, physically, and emotionally.

1. Forgive yourself 

Now, before anything it is important to firstly forgive yourself. Forgive yourself for being so hard on yourself when you should have instead been gentle. Forgive yourself for all the unkind words you chose to say to yourself when you should have taken the opportunity to encourage yourself. Remember we are in a national pandemic that no one could have guessed would happen, so being easily forgiving and kind will go an incredibly long way. To find out more about how to effectively do this click here.

2. Get into a routine.

With the current state that the world is in, a routine should be mandatory, theres a famous quote written by Benjamin Franklin and it says this “When we fail to plan, we plan to fail”. This means that if we continue to have days with no structure, it is likely that the things we really want to achieve and get done can’t happen as we haven’t properly structured it into our days. One of the things that I believe works effectively for me is journalling, doing this at the start of my day allows me to preset my intentions for what that day should look like as well as what should hopefully be achieved. It is also key to note that you are not always going to stick to your routine. However, knowing that you have one there definitely makes all the difference. To find out more about how to structure your day effectively click here. 

3. Affirm yourself.

Its so important to affirm yourself and be your own BIGGEST fan! After all, you are one of the only people that spend 100% of your time being with YOU! Ways that you can do this include writing yourself a letter explaining how proud you are of yourself, creating a jar of all the things you like about yourself, and listing all the things you are good at. Lastly, why not have a selection of affirmations you want to develop stronger in and say them out loud for 7 days straight. This is a great way to get your momentum back whilst helping you to reclaim the power back from within that you once lost. For more affirmations click here.

4.Rest.

This is a controversial one as many can often see “resting” as a bad thing and can often perceive it as a failure. But our dear friend Norm Kelly said it best. He once said “You cannot pour from an empty cup” Now, what I believe he meant is that you couldn’t possibly give away apart of yourself that simply isn’t there and sometimes to get that part of yourself back simply requires REST. Also just to reiterate “rest” doesn’t mean unproductiveness it simply is an action that sets up an individual to be productive and to be it well. So with every opportunity that is given to you, please make time for rest.

For more information about how to rest well, click here.

5. Practice lots of self-care.

This is key as it provides you with an opportunity to perhaps step away from your usual responsibilities such as being at the office. It also provides you with a space where you can openly feel, express and offload any additional baggage that may have attached itself to you during your working day/week. Now if you’re currently stuck on ways that you could practice self- care, below are 3 easy ways that you could start to achieve this:

  1. Organise a pamper evening- This would be a great opportunity to use the overload of bath prezzies that you may have received from the Christmas period. So why not run yourself a hot bubble bath infused with your favourite fruit bursting shower gel.

2. Make yourself your favourite meal or order from your favourite take out– At times we can get so used to the quick slapdash meals because we can’t be bothered to put the effort in due to working all day. However, why not try something different this time? I challenge you to set aside some time in your evening to wine and dine yourself whilst watching one of your fave shows of all time.

3. Organise a movie night with a theme of your choice- It’s time to relax and get the popcorn in! Why not create a playlist of your favourite movies and watch them back to back whilst indulging in your favourite snacks and having the absolute time of your life.

For more self-care ideas click here.

If you found this useful and feel as though others could benefit, why not share and spread the good news. Also if anything stood out to you whilst reading this please do comment on your key takeaways as well as any other thoughts you may have. Thank you so much for taking the time out to read this.

Contribution by Keeley Stephenson.

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